U.S. patent application number 16/904476 was filed with the patent office on 2021-01-21 for electronic device.
The applicant listed for this patent is InnoLux Corporation. Invention is credited to Kuan-Feng Lee, CHANDRA LIUS.
Application Number | 20210020810 16/904476 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000004929751 |
Filed Date | 2021-01-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210020810 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LIUS; CHANDRA ; et
al. |
January 21, 2021 |
ELECTRONIC DEVICE
Abstract
An electronic device is provided by the present disclosure. The
electronic device includes a substrate, a light emitting diode and
an optical sensor. The light emitting diode is disposed on the
substrate and emits a light. The optical sensor is disposed on the
substrate and is configured to receive the light, and the optical
sensor receives the light to generate a first electrical signal for
fingerprint authentication, and receives the light to generate a
second electrical signal for luminance calibration of the
light.
Inventors: |
LIUS; CHANDRA; (Miao-Li
County, TW) ; Lee; Kuan-Feng; (Miao-Li County,
TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
InnoLux Corporation |
Miao-Li County |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000004929751 |
Appl. No.: |
16/904476 |
Filed: |
June 17, 2020 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06K 9/0004 20130101;
G06F 21/32 20130101; H01L 33/483 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H01L 33/48 20060101
H01L033/48; G06F 21/32 20060101 G06F021/32; G06K 9/00 20060101
G06K009/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 18, 2019 |
CN |
201910649674.7 |
Claims
1. An electronic device comprising: a substrate; a light emitting
diode disposed on the substrate and emitting a light; and an
optical sensor disposed on the substrate and configured to receive
the light, wherein the optical sensor receives the light to
generate a first electrical signal for fingerprint authentication,
and receives the light to generate a second electrical signal for
luminance calibration of the light.
2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the optical sensor
partially overlaps the light emitting diode in a thickness
direction of the substrate.
3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the optical sensor
comprises a first region not overlapping the light emitting diode
and a second region overlapping the light emitting diode, and an
area of the first region is greater than an area of the second
region.
4. An electronic device comprising: a substrate; a first light
emitting diode disposed on the substrate and emitting a first
light; a second light emitting diode disposed on the substrate and
emitting a second light; and an optical sensor disposed on the
substrate and configured to receive the first light and the second
light, wherein the optical sensor receives the first light to
generate a first electrical signal for fingerprint authentication,
and receives the second light to generate a second electrical
signal for luminance calibration of the second light.
5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein a wavelength of the
first light is greater than a wavelength of the second light.
6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the first light is a
green light and the second light is a blue light.
7. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the optical sensor
partially overlaps the second light emitting diode in a thickness
direction of the substrate.
8. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the first light and
the second light are emitted simultaneously.
9. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the first light and
the second light are emitted non-simultaneously.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
1. Field of the Disclosure
[0001] The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, more
particularly to an electronic device including optical sensor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
[0002] In electronic devices, the optical sensor may be configured
to detect light and generate signal in order to perform the
functions of the electronic device. However, as users have higher
demand about the electronic device, to improve the design of the
optical sensor has become an important issue in electronic
industry.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0003] In some embodiments, an electronic device is provided by the
present disclosure. The electronic device includes a substrate, a
light emitting diode and an optical sensor. The light emitting
diode is disposed on the substrate and emits a light. The optical
sensor is disposed on the substrate and is configured to receive
the light, wherein the optical sensor receives the light to
generate a first electrical signal for fingerprint authentication
and receives the light to generate a second electrical signal for
luminance calibration of the light.
[0004] In some embodiments, an electronic device is provided by the
present disclosure. The electronic device includes a substrate, a
first light emitting diode, a second light emitting diode and an
optical sensor. The first light emitting diode is disposed on the
substrate and emits a first light. The second light emitting diode
is disposed on the substrate and emits a second light. The optical
sensor is disposed on the substrate and is configured to receive
the first light and the second light, wherein the optical sensor
receives the first light to generate a first electrical signal for
fingerprint authentication, and receives the second light to
generate a second electrical signal for luminance calibration of
the second light.
[0005] These and other objectives of the present disclosure will no
doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after
reading the following detailed description of the embodiment that
is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of
an electronic device according to the first embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[0007] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a partial enlargement
cross-sectional view of an optical sensor according to a variant
embodiment of the first embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of
an electronic device according to the second embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[0009] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of
an electronic device according to the third embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a top view of a light
emitting diode and an optical sensor according to a variant
embodiment of the third embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0011] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a functional block diagram
of an exemplary operation method of the optical sensor according to
the first embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0012] FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a functional block diagram
of another exemplary operation method of the optical sensor
according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0013] FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a flow chart of an
operation method of the electronic device according to the third
embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0014] FIG. 9 schematically illustrates an electronic device
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] The present disclosure may be understood by reference to the
following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the
drawings as described below. It is noted that, for purposes of
illustrative clarity and being easily understood by the readers,
various drawings of this disclosure show a portion of the
electronic device, and certain elements in various drawings may not
be drawn to scale. In addition, the number and dimension of each
element shown in drawings are only illustrative and are not
intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
[0016] Certain terms are used throughout the description and
following claims to refer to particular elements. As one skilled in
the art will understand, electronic equipment manufacturers may
refer to an element by different names. This document does not
intend to distinguish between elements that differ in name but not
function.
[0017] In the following description and in the claims, the terms
"include", "comprise" and "have" are used in an open-ended fashion,
and thus should be interpreted to mean "include, but not limited to
. . . ".
[0018] It will be understood that when an element or layer is
referred to as being "disposed on" or "connected to" another
element or layer, it can be directly on or directly connected to
the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may
be presented (indirectly). In contrast, when an element is referred
to as being "directly on" or "directly connected to" another
element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layers
presented.
[0019] Although terms such as first, second, third, etc., may be
used to describe diverse constituent elements, such constituent
elements are not limited by the terms. The terms are used only to
discriminate a constituent element from other constituent elements
in the specification. The claims may not use the same terms, but
instead may use the terms first, second, third, etc. with respect
to the order in which an element is claimed. Accordingly, in the
following description, a first constituent element may be a second
constituent element in a claim.
[0020] It should be noted that the technical features in different
embodiments described in the following can be replaced, recombined,
or mixed with one another to constitute another embodiment without
departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.
[0021] Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a
cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to the first
embodiment of the present disclosure. The electronic device 100 may
include a display device, antenna, sensing device or tiled device,
but not limited thereto. The electronic device may be a foldable
electronic device or a flexible electronic device. The electronic
device 100 may for example be served as a common display, a tiled
display, a vehicle display, a display panel, a touch panel, a light
source module, a television, a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, a
lighting equipment or an electronic device applied to the
above-mentioned products, but not limited to the above-mentioned
examples. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 may include
a substrate 102, a circuit layer 104, an optical sensor 106 and a
light emitting diode 108. The substrate 102 may be a rigid
substrate (such as glass substrate, quartz substrate, ceramic
substrate or sapphire substrate, but not limited thereto), a
flexible substrate (such as polyimide substrate, polycarbonate
substrate, polyethylene terephthalate substrate or the like), other
suitable substrate or the combinations of the above-mentioned
substrates, but not limited thereto.
[0022] The light emitting diode 108 is disposed on the substrate
102, and may for example include a first electrode 108a, a second
electrode 108c and a light emitting layer 108b, wherein the light
emitting layer 108b is located between the first electrode 108a and
the second electrode 108c. The first electrode 108a and the second
electrode 108c may respectively be served as the cathode and anode
of the light emitting diode 108, but not limited thereto. In a
variant embodiment, the first electrode 108a and the second
electrode 108c may respectively be served as the anode and cathode
of the light emitting diode 108. In the present embodiment, the
second electrode 108c may be closer to the substrate 102 than the
first electrode 108a. The second electrode 108c is located at the
lower side of the light emitting layer 108b, which may be called as
a lower electrode, and the first electrode 108a is located at the
upper side of the light emitting layer 108b, which may be called as
an upper electrode. The first electrode 108a and the second
electrode 108c may include metal oxide or metal material such as
indium tin oxide, but not limited thereto. The light emitting diode
108 may for example include organic light emitting diode (OLED),
quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED or QDLED), mini light
emitting diode (mini LED), micro light emitting diode (micro LED),
other suitable light emitting elements or the combinations thereof.
In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may include liquid
crystal (LC), quantum dot (QD), fluorescent material, phosphor
material, other suitable material, or the combinations thereof, but
not limited thereto. For example, the light emitting diode 108
shown in FIG. 1 may be the organic light emitting diode, but the
present disclosure is not limited thereto. Besides, the light
emitting diode 108 of the present disclosure may for example
include blue light emitting diode, red light emitting diode, green
light emitting diode or white light emitting diode, but not limited
thereto. For example, the light emitting diode 108 may be a blue
light emitting diode. Although only one light emitting diode 108 is
shown in FIG. 1, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For
example, the electronic device 100 may include two or more light
emitting diodes.
[0023] A pixel defining layer 114 may be included on the substrate
102, wherein the pixel defining layer 114 may include at least one
opening 114a. The light emitting diode 108 may be mainly located in
the opening 114a, or in other words, the light emitting layer 108b
of the light emitting diode 108 may be located in the opening 114a.
In an embodiment, the opening 114a of the pixel defining layer 114
may define the light emitting region of light emitting area of the
light emitting diode 108. According to the present disclosure, the
light emitting diode 108 may emit a light L1 and a light L2. The
light L1 may be emitted away from the substrate 102. In another
aspect, the light L2 may be emitted toward the substrate 102.
[0024] The circuit layer 104 is disposed on the substrate 102, and
may include various kinds of conductive lines, circuits and/or
electronic elements such as switch element 110 and driving element
112. The switch element 110 and the driving element 112 may for
example include a thin film transistor, but the present disclosure
is not limited thereto. The switch element 110 may include a gate
electrode 110G, a source electrode 110S, a drain electrode 110D, a
semiconductor layer 110C and a first gate insulating layer GI. The
first gate insulating layer GI is located between the gate
electrode 110G and the semiconductor layer 110C. The gate electrode
110G of the switch element 110 may be electrically connected to the
scan line (not shown in FIG. 1), and the source electrode 110S may
be electrically connected to the data line DL. The driving element
112 may include a gate electrode 112G, a source electrode 112S, a
drain electrode 112D, a semiconductor layer 112C and the first gate
insulating layer GI. The first gate insulating layer GI is located
between the gate electrode 112G and the semiconductor layer 112C.
In an embodiment, the gate electrode 112G of the driving element
112 may be electrically connected to the drain electrode 110D of
the switch element 110, the drain electrode 112D of the driving
element 112 may be electrically connected to the second electrode
108c of the light emitting diode 108, and the source electrode 112S
of the driving element 112 may be electrically connected to the
working voltage source (VDD) or the common voltage source, but not
limited thereto. Besides, although the switch element 110 and the
driving element 112 shown in FIG. 1 is a top gate thin film
transistor, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The
switch element 110 and the driving element 112 may also include
bottom gate thin film transistor or multi-gate thin film transistor
(such as dual gate/double gate thin film transistor), and the
switch element 110 and the driving element 112 may include the same
type or different types of the thin film transistor. In an
embodiment, the materials of the semiconductor layer 110C of the
switch element 110 and the semiconductor layer 112C of the driving
element 112 may respectively include amorphous semiconductor,
poly-crystalline semiconductor, metal oxide (such as indium gallium
zinc oxide (IGZO)), or the combinations thereof, but not limited
thereto. The materials of the semiconductor layer 110C and the
semiconductor layer 112C may be the same or different. For example,
the material of one of the semiconductor layer 110C and the
semiconductor layer 112C may include poly-crystalline silicon, and
the material of another one of the semiconductor layer 110C and the
semiconductor layer 112C may include indium gallium zinc oxide.
[0025] In the present embodiment, the optical sensor 106 may be
located between the light emitting diode 108 and the substrate 102,
but not limited thereto. Although the optical sensor 106 shown in
FIG. 1 is located between the substrate 102 and the light emitting
diode 108, the optical sensor 106 may be disposed in other
positions. For example, the optical sensor 106 may be disposed
below the substrate 102 (that is, the substrate 102 is located
between the optical sensor 106 and the light emitting diode 108) or
above the light emitting diode 108 (that is, the light emitting
diode 108 is located between the optical sensor 106 and the
substrate 102). The optical sensor 106 may be various types of the
optical sensor, and in the present embodiment, the PIN type diode
is taken as an example of the optical sensor 106, but not limited
thereto. As shown in FIG. 1, the optical sensor 106 may include a
first electrode AE, a first semiconductor layer C1, a second
semiconductor layer C2, a third semiconductor layer C3 and a second
electrode BE. The first electrode AE and the second electrode BE
may for example include metal materials, metal oxides or other
suitable conductive materials, but not limited thereto. The first
semiconductor layer C1 may include one of the N-type semiconductor
layer and the P-type semiconductor layer, the third semiconductor
layer C3 may include another one of the N-type semiconductor layer
and the P-type semiconductor layer, and the second semiconductor
layer C2 may include intrinsic semiconductor layer. For example,
the first semiconductor layer C1 may be a N-type semiconductor
layer, the second semiconductor layer C2 may be an intrinsic
semiconductor layer, and the third semiconductor layer C3 may be a
P-type semiconductor layer, but the present disclosure is not
limited thereto.
[0026] A sensor switch element DT may be electrically connected to
the optical sensor 106. The sensor switch element DT may be
disposed adjacent to the optical sensor 106, for example, the
switch element DT may be disposed below the optical sensor 106 and
may for example be configured to control the transmission of the
sensing signal. In the present embodiment, the sensor switch
element DT may for example be a thin film transistor, and may
include a gate electrode GE2, a source electrode SE2, a drain
electrode DE2, a semiconductor layer SC2 and a second gate
insulating layer GI2. The second gate insulating layer GI2 is
located between the gate electrode GE2 and the semiconductor layer
SC2, but not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the source
electrode SE2 of the sensor switch element DT may for example be
electrically connected to the second electrode BE of the optical
sensor 106, but not limited thereto.
[0027] According to the present embodiment, the optical sensor 106
may be partially overlapped with the light emitting diode 108 in a
thickness direction D1 of the substrate 102. The term "partially
overlapped" means that the entire light emitting diode 108 or a
portion of the light emitting diode 108 may be overlapped with the
optical sensor 106 in the thickness direction D1. As shown in FIG.
1, the optical sensor 106 includes a first region R1 and a second
region R2, the first region R1 is not overlapped with the light
emitting diode 108, and the second region R2 is overlapped with the
light emitting diode 108. It should be noted that the term
"overlapped with the light emitting diode 108" means that the
optical sensor 106 and the second electrode 108c of the light
emitting diode 108 are at least partially overlapped, but the
present disclosure is not limited thereto. In the present
embodiment, the area of the first region R1 of the optical sensor
106 may be greater than the area of the second region R2 of the
optical sensor 106. In some embodiments, a ratio of the area of the
second region R2 to the area of the light emitting diode 108 may
range from 0.1 to 1 (that is, 0.1.ltoreq.ratio.ltoreq.1). It should
be noted that the term "area of the light emitting diode" may be
regarded as the area of the light emitting layer 108b in a top
view, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For
example, the area of the light emitting diode 108 may also be
defined by the area of the lower surface of the opening 114a of the
pixel defining layer 114.
[0028] The first region R1 of the optical sensor 106 may for
example receive the light L1 emitted from the light emitting diode
108, for example, when the object FG (such as fingers) touches the
electronic device 100, the light L1 may be reflected by the object
FG such that the first region R1 may receive the light L1, thereby
generating a first electrical signal. The first electrical signal
may for example be for fingerprint authentication, but not limited
thereto. The optical sensor 106 may for example be configured to
receive ambient light to generate the first electrical signal in
order to obtain the information of the ambient light. The second
region R2 of the optical sensor 106 may for example be configured
to receive the light L2 emitted from the light emitting diode 108
to generate a second electrical signal. The second electrical
signal may for example be for luminance calibration of the light
emitting diode 108, but not limited thereto. In an embodiment, the
first electrical signal and the second electrical signal may
respectively be for fingerprint authentication, obtaining the
information of ambient light, luminance calibration of the light
emitting diode 108 and/or other suitable functions, but not limited
thereto.
[0029] In an embodiment, a light shielding layer LS may be disposed
on the substrate 102, and is located between the circuit layer 104
and the substrate 102 in the thickness direction D1, for example,
the light shielding layer LS may be located between the switch
element 110 and the substrate 102 and/or between the driving
element 112 and the substrate 102, but not limited thereto. The
light shielding layer LS may for example be configured to decrease
the incoming light from the substrate 102 in order to decrease the
effect of the ambient light on the switch element 110 and the
driving element 112, but not limited thereto.
[0030] In an embodiment, a planarization layer PLN may be disposed
on the optical sensor 106, and may provide a flat surface PLNS in
order to dispose the second electrode 108c and the light emitting
layer 108b which are subsequently formed, but not limited thereto.
A functional layer FL and a protection layer CG may be selectively
included in the electronic device 100 of the present disclosure.
The functional layer FL may be served to provide the optical
function or the touch function required by the electronic device
100, and the protection layer CG may for example be configured to
protect the functional layer FL and other layers and/or elements
below the functional layer FL, but not limited thereto. The
electronic device 100 may further include an insulating layer 120
disposed on the pixel defining layer 114 and the light emitting
diode 108. In some embodiments, the insulating layer 120 may be a
single layer structure or a multi-layer structure. For example, the
insulating layer 120 may include a first insulating layer 120a, a
second insulating layer 120b and a third insulating layer 120c, the
first insulating layer 120a and the third insulating layer 120c may
for example include inorganic insulating materials, and the second
insulating layer 120b may for example include organic insulating
materials, but not limited thereto. In an embodiment, the
insulating layer 120 may also provide planarization effect. Except
for the above-mentioned elements or layers, the electronic device
100 of the present embodiment may for example include a buffer
layer BF disposed on the light shielding layer LS, an intermediate
dielectric layer ILD disposed on the first gate insulating layer
GI, an insulating layer BP1 disposed on the intermediate dielectric
layer ILD and an insulating layer BP2 disposed on the second gate
insulating layer GI2, but not limited thereto.
[0031] Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a
partial enlargement cross-sectional view of an optical sensor
according to a variant embodiment of the first embodiment of the
present disclosure. In the present variant embodiment, the
materials of the first region R1 and the second region R2 of the
optical sensor 106 may have different combinations according to the
demands. The optical sensor 106 may include a first electrode A1, a
first type semiconductor layer N1, an intrinsic semiconductor layer
I1, a second type semiconductor layer P1 and a second electrode B1
which are located in the first region R1, and a first electrode A2,
a first type semiconductor layer N2, an intrinsic semiconductor
layer 12, a second type semiconductor layer P2 and a second
electrode B2 which are located in the second region R2. In an
embodiment, the first type semiconductor layer N1 and the first
type semiconductor layer N2 may be one of the N-type semiconductor
layer and the P-type semiconductor layer, and the second type
semiconductor layer P1 and the second type semiconductor layer P2
may be another one of the N-type semiconductor layer and the P-type
semiconductor layer. According to a variant embodiment, the first
electrode A1 and the first electrode A2 may include the same
material such as conductive material, and the second electrode B1
and the second electrode B2 may include the same material such as
conductive material. That is, the semiconductor layers in the first
region R1 and the second region R2 (including the first type
semiconductor layer, the intrinsic semiconductor layer and the
second type semiconductor layer) may share the first electrode and
the second electrode. Besides, in an embodiment, the materials of
the first type semiconductor layer N1, the intrinsic semiconductor
layer I1 and the second type semiconductor layer P1 in the first
region R1 may respectively be the same as the materials of the
first type semiconductor layer N2, the intrinsic semiconductor
layer 12 and the second type semiconductor layer P2 in the second
region R2, but the doping amount of the semiconductor layers in
these two regions may be different. For example, the semiconductor
layers in the first region R1 and the second region R2 (including
the first type semiconductor layer, the intrinsic semiconductor
layer and the second type semiconductor layer) may include silicon,
and the doping amount of the first type semiconductor layer N2, the
second type semiconductor layer P2 and/or the intrinsic
semiconductor layer 12 in the second region R2 may be greater than
the doping amount of the first type semiconductor layer N1, the
second type semiconductor layer P1 and/or the intrinsic
semiconductor layer I1 in the first region R1, but the present
disclosure is not limited thereto. According to another variant
embodiment, the materials of the first type semiconductor layer N1,
the intrinsic layer I1 and the second type semiconductor layer P1
in the first region R1 may respectively be different from the
materials of the first type semiconductor layer N2, the intrinsic
layer 12 and the second type semiconductor layer P2 in the second
region R2. For example, the materials of the first type
semiconductor layer N1, the intrinsic layer I1 and the second type
semiconductor layer P1 in the first region R1 may for example
include silicon, and the materials of the first type semiconductor
layer N2, the intrinsic layer 12 and the second type semiconductor
layer P2 in the second region R2 may for example include germanium,
but not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the material of the
second type semiconductor layer P1 in the first region R1 may be
the same as the material of the second type semiconductor layer P2
in the second region R2, for example, including silicon. Besides,
the materials of the first type semiconductor layer N1 and the
intrinsic layer I1 in the first region R1 may respectively be
different from the materials of the first type semiconductor layer
N2 and the intrinsic layer 12 in the second region R2. For example,
the second type semiconductor layer P1 in the first region R1 and
the second type semiconductor layer P2 in the second region R2 may
for example include silicon, the first type semiconductor layer N1
and the intrinsic semiconductor layer I1 in the first region R1 may
for example include silicon, and the first type semiconductor layer
N2 and the intrinsic semiconductor layer 12 in the second region R2
may for example include germanium, but not limited to the
above-mentioned materials. According to yet another embodiment, in
the optical sensor 106, the material of the first electrode A1 in
the first region R1 may be different from the material of the first
electrode A2 in the second region R2, and the material of the
second electrode B1 in the first region R1 may be different from
the material of the second electrode B2 in the second region R2.
Besides, the materials of the first type semiconductor layer N1,
the intrinsic layer I1 and the second type semiconductor layer P1
in the first region R1 may be different from the materials of the
first type semiconductor layer N2, the intrinsic layer 12 and the
second type semiconductor layer P2 in the second region R2. For
example, the first type semiconductor layer N1, the intrinsic layer
I1 and the second type semiconductor layer P1 in the first region
R1 may include silicon, and the first type semiconductor layer N2,
the intrinsic layer 12 and the second type semiconductor layer P2
in the second region R2 may include germanium, but not limited
thereto. The materials of each of the layers such as the first
electrode, the second electrode, the first type semiconductor
layer, the intrinsic semiconductor layer and the second type
semiconductor layer in the first region R1 and the second region R2
mentioned above may be designed to be the same or different
according to the demands.
[0032] Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a
cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to the
second embodiment of the present disclosure. In order to simplify
the figure, the functional layer and the protection layer which are
selectively disposed are omitted in FIG. 3. The main difference
between the electronic device 200 of the present embodiment and the
electronic device of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is that
the second electrode 208c of the light emitting diode 208 of the
electronic device 200 in the present embodiment may include an
opening 208d. As shown in FIG. 3, the light emitting diode 208 may
include a first electrode 208a, a light emitting layer 208b and a
second electrode 208c, wherein an opening 208d may be included in
the second electrode 208c, and the light emitting layer 208b may be
filled into the opening 208d. The first electrode 208a and the
second electrode 208c of the light emitting diode 208 may for
example include metal oxide or metal material. For example, the
first electrode 208a may include metal oxide material (such as
indium tin oxide (ITO)), and the second electrode 208c may include
conductive metal material, but not limited thereto. Similarly,
although only one light emitting diode 208 is shown in FIG. 3, the
present disclosure is not limited thereto. The electronic device
200 may for example include two or more light emitting diodes.
Similar to the first embodiment, the optical sensor 206 of the
present embodiment has a first region R1 not overlapping the light
emitting diode 208 and a second region R2 overlapping the light
emitting diode 208. The first region R1 of the optical sensor 206
may for example receive the light L1 to generate the first
electrical signal for fingerprint authentication. The light L1 may
be emitted from the light emitting diode 208, and may be reflected
by the object FG to the optical sensor 206; the second region R2 of
the optical sensor 206 may for example receive the light L2 emitted
from the light emitting diode 208, and may for example generate the
second electrical signal for luminance calibration of the light
emitting diode 208, but the present disclosure is not limited to
the above-mentioned contents. According to the present embodiment,
the light L2 may for example be emitted from the light emitting
layer 208b and reach the second region R2 of the optical sensor 206
through the opening 208d, but not limited thereto. Other elements
or layers of the electronic device 200 of the present embodiment
may be the same as or similar to the elements or layers in the
first embodiment, and will not be redundantly described here.
[0033] Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a
cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to the third
embodiment of the present disclosure. The electronic device 400 may
include a substrate 402, a circuit layer 404, an optical sensor
406, a first light emitting diode 408 and a second light emitting
diode 410. The main difference between the present embodiment and
the second embodiment is that the electronic device 400 of the
present embodiment has the first light emitting diode 408 and the
second light emitting diode 410, and the optical sensor 406 may be
partially overlapped with the second light emitting diode 410. The
second light emitting diode 410 may include a first electrode 410a,
a light emitting layer 410b and a second electrode 410c. The
material of the substrate 402, the structure of the circuit layer
404, the material and disposed position of the optical sensor 406,
and the materials of the first light emitting diode 408 and the
second light emitting diode 410 may refer to the first embodiment,
which will not be redundantly described here. It should be noted
that although only two light emitting diodes are shown in FIG. 4,
the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The electronic
device 400 may include more light emitting diodes. In the present
embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the first light emitting diode 408
may not be overlapped with the optical sensor 406, and the second
light emitting diode 410 may be partially overlapped with the
optical sensor 406, but not limited thereto. Similarly, the term
"partially overlapped" means that the entire second light emitting
diode 410 or a portion of the second light emitting diode 410 may
be overlapped with the optical sensor 406 in the thickness
direction D1. The optical sensor 406 may include a first region R1
and a second region R2, wherein the first region R1 is not
overlapped with the second light emitting diode 410, and the second
region R2 is overlapped with the second light emitting diode 410.
It should be noted that the second region R2 of the present
embodiment may include the region in which the optical sensor 206
and the second electrode 208c of the light emitting diode 208 are
at least partially overlapped, and the region in which the optical
sensor 206 and the opening 208d are at least partially overlapped,
but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. According to the
present embodiment, the first light emitting diode 408 may emit the
first light L1', and the first region R1 of the optical sensor 406
may for example receive the first light L1' emitted from the first
light emitting diode 408, but not limited thereto. For example,
when the object FG touches the electronic device 400, the first
light L1' may be reflected by the object FG such that the first
region may receive the first light L1' and generate the first
electrical signal. The first electrical signal may for example be
for fingerprint authentication, but not limited thereto. The
optical sensor 406 may for example be configured to detect the
ambient light to generate the first electrical signal for obtaining
the information (such as luminance) of the ambient light. The
second light emitting diode 410 may emit the second light L2', and
the second region R2 of the optical sensor 406 may for example
receive the second light L2' emitted from the second light emitting
diode 410, but not limited thereto. For example, the second region
R2 of the optical sensor 406 may receive the second light L2'
emitted from the second light emitting diode 410 and generate the
second electrical signal for luminance calibration of the second
light emitting diode 410, but not limited thereto. According to the
present embodiment, the wavelength of the first light L1' may be
greater than the wavelength of the second light L2'. The wavelength
of the first light L1' may range from 495 nanometers (nm) to 570 nm
(495 nm.ltoreq.L1'.ltoreq.570 nm), and the wavelength of the second
light L2' may range from 450 nm to 495 nm (450
nm.ltoreq.L2'.ltoreq.495 nm). For example, the first light L1' may
include green light, and the second light L2' may include blue
light, but not limited thereto. It should be noted that "the
wavelength of the first light L1' may be greater than the
wavelength of the second light L2'" mentioned above means that the
peak value of the crest of the spectrogram of the first light L1'
is greater than the peak value of the crest of the spectrogram of
the second light L2'. The spectrogram of the first light L1' and
the spectrogram of the second light L2' may be obtained by
measuring the first light L1' emitted from the first light emitting
diode 408 and the second light L2' emitted from the second light
emitting diode 410 at outside (or display surface) of the device,
but not limited thereto. Although the second light L2' shown in
FIG. 4 is emitted toward the substrate 402, the emitting direction
or measuring direction of the second light L2' is not limited
thereto. According to the present embodiment, when operating the
electronic device 400, the first light L1' and the second light L2'
may be emitted simultaneously or not, that is, when the first light
emitting diode 408 emits the first light L1', the second light
emitting diode 410 may emit the second light L2' simultaneously,
or, the time when the first light emitting diode 408 emits the
first light L1' and the time when the second light emitting diode
410 emits the second light L2' may be staggered. Besides, in the
present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the second electrode 410c
of the second light emitting diode 410 includes an opening 410d,
therefore, the second light L2' may for example be emitted from the
second light emitting diode 410, and reach the second region R2 of
the optical sensor 406 through the opening 410d, but not limited
thereto. In other variant embodiments, the second electrode 410c of
the second light emitting diode 410 may not include the opening
410d, and the second light L2' may directly penetrate through the
second electrode 410c and reach the second region R2 of the optical
sensor 406. For example, when the second electrode 410c includes
opaque material (such as metal material), the opening 410d may be
formed in the second electrode 410c in order to allow the light L2'
to penetrate through. When the second electrode 410c includes
transparent material (such as transparent conductive material), the
opening 410d may not be formed in the second electrode 410c. In an
embodiment, the first electrical signal and the second electrical
signal may respectively be for fingerprint authentication,
obtaining the information of the ambient light, luminance
calibration of the light emitting diode 108, and/or other suitable
functions, but not limited thereto. For example, the optical sensor
406 may use the first light L1' to generate the first electrical
signal for luminance calibration of the first light emitting diode
408 and/or the second light emitting diode 410.
[0034] Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a top
view of a light emitting diode and an optical sensor according to a
variant embodiment of the third embodiment of the present
disclosure. The electronic device 400 may include a first light
emitting diode 408, a second light emitting diode 410, a third
light emitting diode 412 and an optical sensor 406. In order to
simplify the figure, FIG. 5 only shows the light emitting layer
408b and the second electrode 408c of the first light emitting
diode 408, the light emitting layer 410b and the second electrode
410c of the second light emitting diode 410, and the light emitting
layer 412b and the second electrode 412c of the third light
emitting diode 412. In an embodiment, the adjacent first light
emitting diode 408, the second light emitting diode 410 and the
third light emitting diode 412 may form a pixel, and the second
light emitting diode 410 may be partially overlapped with the
optical sensor 406 in the thickness direction D1. In another
embodiment, the optical sensor 406 may be partially overlapped with
the first light emitting diode 408 in the thickness direction D1,
and the first light emitting diode 408 is disposed between the
second light emitting diode 410 and the third light emitting diode
412. The first light emitting diode 408 may emit a light with a
first color, the second light emitting diode 410 may emit a light
with a second color, and the third light emitting diode 412 may
emit a light with a third color, wherein the first color, the
second color and the third color may be different from each other,
or at least two of the first color, the second color and the third
color are the same, but not limited thereto. For example, the first
color, the second color and the third color may respectively be one
of red color, green color and blue color, but the present
disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, because the decay
of the blue light emitting diode may be more obvious than the red
light emitting diode and the green light emitting diode, the second
light emitting diode 410 which is overlapped with the optical
sensor may be deigned to be a blue light emitting diode in order to
make the optical sensor 406 capable of detecting the light emitted
from the blue light emitting diode and performing luminance
calibration, but not limited thereto. Besides, according to the
present embodiment, the second electrode 410c of the second light
emitting diode 410 may include an opening 410d and the light may
for example reach the optical sensor 406 through the opening 410d,
but not limited thereto. In other variant embodiments, the second
electrode 410c may not include the opening 410d. In other
embodiments, a pixel may include four light emitting diodes or more
than four light emitting diodes such as the red light emitting
diode, the blue light emitting diode, the green light emitting
diode and the white light emitting diode, but not limited
thereto.
[0035] Referring to FIG. 6 to FIG. 7 and also referring to FIG. 1,
FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a functional block diagram of an
exemplary operation method of the optical sensor according to the
first embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 7
schematically illustrates a functional block diagram of another
exemplary operation method of the optical sensor according to the
first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, the
electronic device 100 may further include a processor 130, wherein
the processor 130 may include a fingerprint authentication unit 132
and a luminance calibration unit 134. The optical sensor 106 may
receive the light signal in different timing sequence, and transfer
the light signal into the first electrical signal ES1 and the
second electrical signal ES2. For example, the optical sensor 106
may transfer the light L1 received in the first region R1 into the
first electrical signal ES1 in a time period, and transmit the
first electrical signal ES1 to the fingerprint authentication unit
132, and the information of the fingerprint may be obtained through
calculation or identification performed by the fingerprint
authentication unit 132. In another aspect, the optical sensor 106
may transfer the light L2 received in the second region R2 into the
second electrical signal ES2 in another time period, and transmit
the second electrical signal ES2 to the luminance calibration unit
134, and the light emitting effect of the light emitting diode 108
may be judged by the luminance calibration unit 134. If the
calibration process is needed, a calibration signal may be sent by
the luminance calibration unit 134. That is, as mentioned above,
the optical sensor 106 may respectively process the light received
in the first region R1 and the second region R2 at different time
periods. As mentioned above, the first electrical signal ES1 may
for example be for fingerprint authentication, and the second
electrical signal ES2 may for example be for luminance calibration
of the light emitting diode, but not limited thereto. Besides, the
optical sensor 106 may optionally include an ambient light
identification unit 136. When the optical sensor 106 receives the
ambient light, the received ambient light may be transferred into a
third electrical signal ES3, the third electrical signal ES3 may be
transmitted to the ambient light identification unit 136, and the
information of the ambient light may be obtained through
calculation or identification performed by the ambient light
identification unit 136, but not limited thereto. According to the
present embodiment, the ambient light may for example be received
in the first region R1 of the optical sensor 106, but not limited
thereto. Referring to FIG. 7, in another exemplary operation
method, the processor 130 of the electronic device 100 may further
include an electrical signal distributor 138. According to the
present embodiment, the optical sensor 106 may only receive a
light. In an embodiment, the light may include the light L1 and the
light L2 emitted simultaneously. The light may be transferred into
an electrical signal ES, the electrical signal ES may be divided
into the first electrical signal ES1 and the second electrical
signal ES2 by the electrical signal distributor 138 in the
processor 130, and the first electrical signal ES1 and the second
electrical signal ES2 may be respectively sent to the fingerprint
authentication unit 132 and the luminance calibration unit 134 at
the same time. The application of the first electrical signal ES1
and the second electrical signal ES2 may refer to the
above-mentioned contents, and will not be redundantly described. In
an variant embodiment, the processor 130 shown in FIG. 7 may also
include the ambient light identification unit, the electrical
signal distributor 138 may transfer the electrical signal ES into
the second electrical signal ES2 and the third electrical signal
(not shown in FIG.), and the second electrical signal ES2 and the
third electrical signal may be respectively transmitted to the
luminance calibration unit 134 and the ambient light identification
unit.
[0036] Referring to FIG. 8, and also referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 8
schematically illustrates a flaw chart of an operation method of
the electronic device according to the third embodiment of the
present disclosure. The electronic device 400 may for example be a
display device, but not limited thereto. As shown in FIG. 8, the
display device may for example selectively enter the fingerprint
authentication mode SFM or the luminance detection mode SCM. For
example, when the user wants to enter the fingerprint
authentication mode SFM, the step S100 may be performed to turn on
the fingerprint authentication mode SFM. Then, the step S102 may be
performed on the display device to turn off the second light
emitting diode 410, wherein the second light emitting diode 410 may
be partially overlapped with the optical sensor 406, for example,
the sub-pixel corresponding to the second light emitting diode 410
may be turned off. For example, when the display device enters the
fingerprint authentication mode SFM, the blue sub-pixel may be
turned off, but not limited thereto. Because the authentication of
the fingerprint may be performed by the first electrical signal
generated after the first region R1 of the optical sensor 406
receives the first light L1', in order to decrease the effect of
the second light L2' emitted from the second light emitting diode
410 on the result of the detection, the sub-pixel corresponding to
the second light emitting diode 410 may be turned off. After the
step S102 is finished, the step S104 may be performed to receive
the first light, thereby generating the first electrical signal.
The optical sensor 406 may for example receive the first light L1'
emitted from the first light emitting diode 408 and reflected by
the object FG, and the first light L1' may be transferred into the
first electrical signal in order to identify the information of the
fingerprint, but not limited thereto. When the user wants to enter
the luminance detection mode SCM, the step S106 may be performed to
turn on the luminance detection mode SCM. Then, the step S108 may
be performed on the display device to turn off the first light
emitting diode. For example, the first light emitting diode 408,
which is not overlapped with the optical sensor 406, may be turned
off, or the sub-pixel corresponding to the first light emitting
diode 408 may be turned off. For example, when the display device
enters the luminance detection mode, the red sub-pixel or the green
sub-pixel may be turned off, but not limited thereto. Because the
detection of the luminance may be performed by the second
electrical signal generated after the second region R2 of the
optical sensor 406 receives the second light L2' of the second
light emitting diode 410, in order to decrease the effect of the
first light L1' emitted from the first light emitting diode 408 on
the result of the detection, the sub-pixel corresponding to the
first light emitting diode 408 may be turned off. After the step
S108 is finished, the step S110 may be performed to receive the
second light and generate the second electrical signal. The optical
sensor 406 may for example receive the second light L2' emitted
from the second light emitting diode 410, and transfer the second
light L2' into the second electrical signal in order to confirm the
information of the luminance, thereby adjusting the luminance of
the second light emitting diode 410, but not limited thereto.
[0037] Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 schematically illustrates an
electronic device according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, the electronic device of the
present disclosure may be applied to a display device 900, wherein
the display device 900 may include a display region IR and a
peripheral region PR, and the display device 900 may further
include a plurality of optical sensors distributed in the display
region IR (not shown in FIG. 9). The optical sensor here may refer
to any one of the optical sensors shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, and
the display device 900 may include any one of the electronic
devices shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5 such as the electronic device 400
shown in FIG. 4, wherein the electronic device 400 includes the
first light emitting diode 408 and the second light emitting diode
410. In the normal display mode, as shown in part (I), the entire
display region IR may display a comprehensive image, but not
limited thereto. In the fingerprint detection mode, as shown in
part (II), the display region IR of the display device 900 may be
divided into the fingerprint detection region Rf and the
non-fingerprint detection region Rnf. For example, the fingerprint
detection region Rf and the non-fingerprint detection region Rnf
may respectively display different colors or patterns. In some
embodiments, each of the sub-pixels in the non-fingerprint
detection region Rnf may be turned off in the fingerprint detection
mode, that is, at least a portion of the light emitting diodes in
the non-fingerprint detection region Rnf are turned off, and only
the pixels (or the light emitting diodes in these pixels) in the
fingerprint detection region Rf are turned on. In some other
embodiments, when the display device 900 is in fingerprint
detection mode, only at least one of the first light emitting
diode, the second light emitting diode and the third light emitting
diode (for example, the first light emitting diode) in the
fingerprint detection region Rf may be turned on, and at least one
of the other light emitting diodes (such as the second light
emitting diode and the third light emitting diode) in the
fingerprint detection region Rf is turned off, or, the light
emitting diode which is overlapped with the optical sensor 406 is
turned off, but not limited thereto. The optical sensor in the
fingerprint detection region Rf may for example be configured to
receive the light reflected by the finger and generate an
electrical signal. The electrical signal may for example be served
as a fingerprint authentication signal, but not limited thereto.
The optical sensor in the non-fingerprint detection region Rnf may
for example be configured to receive the ambient light and generate
an electrical signal, wherein the electrical signal may for example
be served as a background signal, but not limited thereto. It
should be noted that when the display device 900 is in the
fingerprint detection mode, the optical sensor in the fingerprint
detection region Rf may also receive the ambient light other than
the light reflected by the finger, so the electrical signal for
fingerprint authentication generated by the optical sensor of the
fingerprint detection region Rf may include the noise caused by the
ambient light. In order to decrease the effect of the ambient light
on the signal of fingerprint authentication, the background signal
generated by the optical sensor in the non-fingerprint detection
region Rnf may be deducted from the electrical signal generated by
the optical sensor in the fingerprint detection region Rf to obtain
the calibrated fingerprint authentication signal, that is, the
calibrated fingerprint authentication signal may be the same as the
fingerprint authentication signal deducts the background signal
(ambient light), but not limited thereto. Therefore, the effect of
the ambient light on the process of fingerprint authentication may
be decreased. In another aspect, in some embodiments, when
performing calibration of the light emitting diodes on the display
device 900, the first light emitting diode in the display region IR
may be turned off, only the second light emitting diode is turned
on, and the light emitting information of the second light emitting
diode may be collected by receiving the light emitted from the
second light emitting diode by the optical sensor to perform
optical calibration, but the present disclosure is not limited
thereto.
[0038] As mentioned above, an electronic device is provided by the
present disclosure. The electronic device includes a substrate, an
optical sensor and a light emitting diode. The optical sensor has a
first region not overlapped with the light emitting diode and a
second region overlapped with the light emitting diode. The first
region of the optical sensor may receive the light emitted from the
light emitting diode and reflected by the finger to generate a
first electrical signal, and the second region of the optical
sensor may receive the light emitted from the light emitting diode
to generate a second electrical signal. According to the first
electrical signal and the second electrical signal, the electronic
device can have functions of luminance calibration and fingerprint
authentication. In some embodiments, the optical sensor may receive
the ambient light in order to collect the information of the
ambient light. Besides, because the optical sensor of the
electronic device of the present disclosure may have multiple
functions, the size of the electronic device may therefore be
decreased.
[0039] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous
modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made
while retaining the teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the
above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes
and bounds of the appended claims.
* * * * *